E3 Killjoy

[Art Axiv]

One thing Shamus - You start to adapt something I call "yahtzee-isms" - aggressive writing with a pinch of irony (my impression though). Its bad, in my view since the headlines goes that the games wont be any good, while 3 out of 4 you said have a chance to succeed. Or am I just tired and read it completely wrong? I especially notice it when I compare your older articles, which where more price to its point, in what I call "your style". Now, it seems like im reading someone elses work.

 

[stranamente]

I completely agree with you about the curse of Molyneux!
:-D
Why can't he just make a whole game good?

Yeah, I got hyped about pretty much everything, but looking at the games I already own I really can't expect anything that can thoroughly satisfy me.
Seriously in every game i played with my 360 there always is something wrong.
Oblivion, fallout: no real endig after countless hours of gaming (what, can't Bethesda make a ending somewhat more rewarding than what they did?)
Assassin's Creed: talking about no ending at all... and what is all that animus crap? What? It was not realistic just play some assassin from the 13th century, but it's more realistic to play someone in the future who play someone in the past. And those neverending dialogues! Aaargh!
Battlefield bad company: really awesome multiplayer, but shitty single player.
Left 4 dead: way, way, way too short and repetitive.
GTA4: that game is awful. They took only the bad side of realism, taking out any fun.
Bioshock: funny only for the first hour, then it gets utterly repetitive.
Gears of war 2: I hated the multiplayer part in this game, I spent hours "waiting"(yeah!) to play, and when I get to it, it's full of people who can't just group up and shot.
Burnout Paradise: it's almost impossibile to drive and not crash in every car, invisible wall along any road. They made this funny game so frustrating.
PGR4: the paradigma of this game is: you can't win high medals until you play through the game buy new cars and play again.


And so on...
And these are the best game everyone is so hyped about. Can't people see all that's wrong in them?
So how many possibilities are there that the future is not looking so good as it seems?

 

[Samurai Goomba]

So, Shamus... Plug yourself enough with that article? Something like 90% of all the links you had were to other stuff you said and a good 50% on your website. Generally speaking, when people want to back up their opinions, they refer to the opinions of other people, or articles written by credible, mostly non-biased sources.

I guess it's fine as a rant, but as usual I didn't agree with it. Or rather, I didn't agree with the way it was presented, and your arguments didn't convince me. Saying everything is going to suck is definitely the "safe" opinion. If you're wrong nobody cares 'cause they're off playing the game, if you're right you get to gloat.

I hate to bring it up, but implying that Halo has one of the most ridiculous plots in a video game? Pretty hard failure, right there. Remember Custer's Revenge? What about Gotcha Force? Tekken 5? Onimusha 3? Pokemon? Strider 2? Gunstar Super Heroes? I can keep going.

Spoiler

A galaxy-destroying superweapon and a war started over a secret that could tear apart a deeply-religious alien alliance don't seem so ridiculous in comparison to a kid who trains animals to fight each other after capturing them with balls.

 

[randomID]

The swotor part was brilliant. At first I thought 'well, it cant be that bad', but I quickly realized that there can be no other possible outcome. I like bioware games a lot, but I dont know if that swotor thing is a really good idea.

But I've one idea how to handle swotor: After release wait one or two weeks. Go to the official forums and check out if there is any class that fares well against jedi/sith in pvp. If there is:
Get the game, pick that class. Kill as many jedi/sith as possible before bioware nerfs your class due to millions of whining jedi/sith. Quit.
Else:
wait for free trial.

 

[PopcornAvenger]

The problem with the Star War's MMO is one shared by all of them; as they said in The Incredibles, "When everyone's special, no one is". A powerful hero or villian simply doesn't stand out when the entire world is populated with them.

With one exception: role-players stand out. Even those that may not be good at it, but still try. Bioware did make one MMO - or it was a close cousin to the MMO - that worked: Neverwinter Nights. Where we had the option and ability to serve up our own worlds, and most importantly, administrate them. On the two servers where I worked for the six years doing builds and coding, we rewarded the RPer's with better gear, access to unique and specials builds, and heavy involvement in the plots that really moved and shook the world.

The fact that we provided all this for free was the icing on the cake.

Which points at what I think is the root cause for failure of the MMO - lack of admin/DM/GM participation coupled with no system of adjucating and rewarding roleplay. You could reward players with good twitch skills, but that's already taken care of by success in combat. You simply can't setup a Persistant World, plunk down quest-giving NPC's and monsters, and then ignore it. (I suppose you CAN, but it's not a game or world I'd be playing in).

--------------------
Guess I'm a Peter Molyneux fan and didn't know it. I loved Populous, and Dungeon Keeper is still one of the greatest games ever developed, IMO. Can't say I liked Fable, tho'.

 

[Pocket Nerd]

SW:TOR needs two things to make it full of awesome.

1) Only Jedi classes. Forget trying to balance classes like Morally Ambiguous Smuggler and Short-Order Cook against the radi-coolness of Jedi; it can't be done. Just give us Jedi classes, and a City of Heroes-inspired power level in which you can plow through groups of 4-6 normal enemies with ease. Please, don't demean my Jedi Guardian by making him an even match for a level 2 Hoth Snow Bunny.

2) A text filter, a la the Alliance-Horde language barrier but in reverse. If another player were to type "wtf u nub LRN 2 PLY OR GTFO!!!!!!!" I would instead see "Young padawan, I sense you are struggling with your connection to the Force. May I suggest more study with your master?" It should also apply to names, so your character named "i.like.b00b13z" instead appears with a sensible, non-fourth-wall-breaking moniker like "Elan Sleazebaggano."

 

[Daveman]

If I could be a mandalorian bounty hunter I'd choose that well before I chose to be a jedi.

 

[Go on]

Shamus i think you are missing the whole point of KOTOR it's a jedi WAR and I'm sure that soldiers can deal with jedi with no armor against blasters.

 

[Credge]

Don't agree with the Star Wars MMO, but people have that covered very well.

Heavy Rain looks like a game you'd play a bit every once in a while. If the story is engaging you'll play through it in one sitting and be done with it for a long, long time.

Accurate with Milo. Why is this thing even being made? There's no real game play to be had at all.

 

[stranamente]

Yeah, it seems like nobody is hyped by a game that still doesn't even exist, and everyone is so sure of how great it will certainly be.
Don't let previous experiences get in your way!

 

[Fredvdp]

As someone already said, Tales of Monkey Island is not a remake, it's something new. The remake is called "The secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition".

 

[Jon Etheridge]

I believe "Tales of Monkey Island" is going to be an original episodic game much like the new Sam and Max, but they are also remaking the classic "Secret of Monkey Island" as well. Either way, I'm stoked to play both.

 

[Mromson]

I can't wait till Monkey Island comes out (both of them). I've been wondering about TOR myself, so far - it's on my list of Future MMO's to buy (Along with FFXIV and "Blizzard MMO 2"). I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

The rest of the listed games, I didn't even care for. Not one bit.

 

[Fineldar]

That was probably the most self-referential article I've read. Was it all a joke or were you actually trying to let people know about that stuff.

plus there's that whole business about how Bioware's making the game highly story-oriented. Probably the only time you'd be grinding for XP with immature-types is because you actively sought it out.

And I'm sure it will have flying pencils who shoot laser beams and candy out of it's ass and be so great it's mistaken for the seconded coming of The Great Prophet Zarquon.

This is where you really take a turn for the worst. Can't anybody be clever enough to not make a WoW reference? This is going to be a heavy story-based game with NPC companions and so far no word on quests, XP, or anything of the like. So why the conjecture? Why try and doom a game before it even has a chance to announce its content? How can progress be made with people like you screaming "WoW" at the top of their lungs anytime somebody makes an online game?

What's even more annoying is people complaining when people reference WoW. When some one says "oh, it's like X in WoW but..." over 11 million people alreadyhave a vague idea of what they're talking about so they don't need to explain so heavily. At least twice that number also have that vague idea, probably a bit hazier, because people know about WoW even when they haven't played it. No word of "XP, quests, or anything of the like", so what is it a big empty space? Second-Life? To have a game you have to have game elements.

 

[Smokescreen]

I'm pretty much 100% on with this article.

But mostly because it was funny. It doesn't take a genius to say that things are gonna lick your balls they suck so bad. MOST things do; Sturgeon's Law and all that.

That said; this is a good antidote to the hype.

 

[ConstantJoe]

Well, at least Golden Sun 3 will be awesome...

But it's on DS...

So I can't have it...

Damn you E3!

 

[Kdroid]

The problem I have with the post is that he presents a buzzkill or these games suck because (insert mostly unfounded, really has no idea remark here.)

If Shamus would present his case in a thought provoking debate form he would come across less of an ass. Or he could give some ideas on how to resolve stated issues. Really anything but a I hate things that are not fully developed nor completely announced so they might have a resolution post.

 

[Chadling]

It's an MMO. Correction, it's an online game. What do you want? Actually, I really don't see "retards" in LOTRO to often at all, so I think you're just making shit up again. You could always join a clan of non-retards though, right?

Exactly what I plan on doing, if I decide to pick this game up. I plan to find a reasonably well-coordinated clan, and train up one of the Non-Force classes. Preferably the Republic Trooper, just because I have a strong affinity for a normal guy standing up to unbelievably powerful forces with nothing more than intense training, a big gun, and a lot of guts behind it. Then, I go and coordinate with my clan buddies, and we slaughter those idiot Sith through superior coordination, good tactics, and lots of firepower.

I'll probably have a Jedi/Sith character for the sake of seeing the classes, but really, I'll be in it for making those freaks cry.

 

[MiserableOldGit]

Since when did a Star Wars game turning out to be crap become news worthy of discussion? They've been flogging the grease spot where a dead horse used to be for years, and will continue to do so as long as people keep producing their wallets.
Its about time game developers stopped watching Star Wars, Matrix, and Event Horizon over and over again, and, ooh, I dont know, READ A BLOODY BOOK. Instead of yet another game set in that shallow insipid world of glowy dildos and social/technological stagnation we could have a sci-fi game set around Ian M Bank's Culture novels (he likes games, I bet he'd be up for it), or a good old fashioned Philip K Dick freak out.